MNTwinsMom
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2009
- Messages
- 361
I found these "Just Back" posts helpful when I was planning our trip, so I'm posting a few comments to hopefully help out in the same way.
We were at WDW December 8-14. Our group consisted of DH, DS7, DS7, DM, DD and myself.
Ft. Wilderness cabins - we LOVED the cabins. They are quiet and a great place to get away from the fast-pace of the parks. The campers staying at Ft. Wilderness go all-out in decorating their sites, making it especially festive. We rented a golf cart and loved the flexibiblity that brought, although the inner-resort buses were always around and we rarely saw anyone waiting at a bus stop for very long. Mousekeeping was great - everyday we had at least 3 new towel animals waiting for us, which my twin sons were particuarly impressed with.
Transportation - We used Disney transportation for getting to/from all the parks. We rarely waited for a bus or boat except for at park closings. The boat transportation to MK and WL/Contemporary is a nice change of pace from the buses.
Dining Plan - We had the "free" dining plan and although I made reservations ahead of time, we still did not use all of our table service credits. As the week went on we did not want to take time out of our day in the parks to sit down and eat. We did enjoy meals at Sci-Fi, Liberty Tree Tavern (best food of the week) and Chef Mickeys (for the character interaction- not the food). My parents also enjoyed a signature meal at Artists Pointe at WL and a lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We discovered quickly that the counter service food at the resorts is far superior to the parks (Flame Tree BBQ being the exception to that rule). We especially liked the counter service restaurant at the Contemporary.
Crowds - We were in the parks Wednesday thru Sunday and most days "hopped" to 2 parks. I scheduled around EMHs and nightime shows so that we would tour in the least busy park and "hop" to the park we wanted to be at for nightime show. This strategy worked well for us. Our only wait in the first three days of touring was for Toy Story Mania. We waited approx 30 minutes Wednesday a.m. in the standby line and another 30 minutes when we returned with fastpasses around 1pm (standby line was 70 minutes at that time). By planning our days to hit the more popular attractions first thing and using FastPass, we had a less then 15 minute wait for everything else including headliners at MK, DHS and AK for the first 3 days. We walked into the 8pm show of Fantasmic about 10 minutes before it started and got a great seat. Saturday and Sunday were much busier. Our longest wait of the week was 70 minutes for Soarin and that was due to bad planning on our part and lack of Fastpass. DTD was crazy-busy on Saturday morning, which I'm guessing was due to Christmas shopping and the 20% off coupon many people were using (including us).
Pop Warner - If it had not read on these boards that they would be there at the same time as us, I never would have noticed. I saw a couple groups with matching tee-shirts and that was it.
Photopass - I researched Photopass quite a bit before our trip and had ordered the CD, so I was determined to get some good shots. We ended up with 110 pictures taken over 5 days. A few tips - make sure the photographer takes several at each location, especially if you have many people in your shot because someone is bound to be looking away or have a weird smile if you only get one shot. The character locations with photopass photographers were particualy nice because they'd take photos during the interaction (hugs, signing books, etc.) plus the posed picture. I also loved the magic shots. The sitting tink at Animal Kingdom and the baby Simba shot turned out the best. They had a nice set-up at the Christmas tree where you enter AK too. They did a magic shot with Stitch popping out of a gift. We also got the magic shots with Mickey, Minnie and Stitch on benches at DHS - they were doing them by the Animation Building and on Sunset Blvd. I almost always had to ask for the magic shots, so doing the research ahead of time paid off. I highly recommend Stitchkingdom.com for background on the photopass.
Characters - I consulted Steve Soares site before our trip and made notes on characters with regular appearances. We never waited more than 15 minutes to see any of the characters (Buzz in Tomorrowland, Woody and Jessie in Frontierland, Lilo and Stitch in Adventureland, Pluto & Goofy at by the hat at DHS). We saw Brer Bear at AK with no waiting and found Mulan standing alone in China at Epcot. The UP characters at DHS were particularly fun to see and have a great background for photos. I made autograph books with templates from the DISigners here on the boards and many of the characters fussed over them and were very excited to see their own personal pages, making my boys feel even more special. (And prompting many questions from the people around us in line)
My parents, husband and I have all been to WDW many times, but this was the first time with kids. We intentionally waited until our boys were older (7) for their first visit, and it was truly an amazing memory-filled trip. As always, Disney delivered great service, friendly CMs and first-class entertainment. We hardly heard a complaint from the kids all week about being tired, too much walking, etc. because they were simply enthralled with everything around them. The kids favorite attractions were Expedition Everest, Rock-N-Roller Coaster, Tower or Terror, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to report on our experiences.
We were at WDW December 8-14. Our group consisted of DH, DS7, DS7, DM, DD and myself.
Ft. Wilderness cabins - we LOVED the cabins. They are quiet and a great place to get away from the fast-pace of the parks. The campers staying at Ft. Wilderness go all-out in decorating their sites, making it especially festive. We rented a golf cart and loved the flexibiblity that brought, although the inner-resort buses were always around and we rarely saw anyone waiting at a bus stop for very long. Mousekeeping was great - everyday we had at least 3 new towel animals waiting for us, which my twin sons were particuarly impressed with.
Transportation - We used Disney transportation for getting to/from all the parks. We rarely waited for a bus or boat except for at park closings. The boat transportation to MK and WL/Contemporary is a nice change of pace from the buses.
Dining Plan - We had the "free" dining plan and although I made reservations ahead of time, we still did not use all of our table service credits. As the week went on we did not want to take time out of our day in the parks to sit down and eat. We did enjoy meals at Sci-Fi, Liberty Tree Tavern (best food of the week) and Chef Mickeys (for the character interaction- not the food). My parents also enjoyed a signature meal at Artists Pointe at WL and a lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe. We discovered quickly that the counter service food at the resorts is far superior to the parks (Flame Tree BBQ being the exception to that rule). We especially liked the counter service restaurant at the Contemporary.
Crowds - We were in the parks Wednesday thru Sunday and most days "hopped" to 2 parks. I scheduled around EMHs and nightime shows so that we would tour in the least busy park and "hop" to the park we wanted to be at for nightime show. This strategy worked well for us. Our only wait in the first three days of touring was for Toy Story Mania. We waited approx 30 minutes Wednesday a.m. in the standby line and another 30 minutes when we returned with fastpasses around 1pm (standby line was 70 minutes at that time). By planning our days to hit the more popular attractions first thing and using FastPass, we had a less then 15 minute wait for everything else including headliners at MK, DHS and AK for the first 3 days. We walked into the 8pm show of Fantasmic about 10 minutes before it started and got a great seat. Saturday and Sunday were much busier. Our longest wait of the week was 70 minutes for Soarin and that was due to bad planning on our part and lack of Fastpass. DTD was crazy-busy on Saturday morning, which I'm guessing was due to Christmas shopping and the 20% off coupon many people were using (including us).
Pop Warner - If it had not read on these boards that they would be there at the same time as us, I never would have noticed. I saw a couple groups with matching tee-shirts and that was it.
Photopass - I researched Photopass quite a bit before our trip and had ordered the CD, so I was determined to get some good shots. We ended up with 110 pictures taken over 5 days. A few tips - make sure the photographer takes several at each location, especially if you have many people in your shot because someone is bound to be looking away or have a weird smile if you only get one shot. The character locations with photopass photographers were particualy nice because they'd take photos during the interaction (hugs, signing books, etc.) plus the posed picture. I also loved the magic shots. The sitting tink at Animal Kingdom and the baby Simba shot turned out the best. They had a nice set-up at the Christmas tree where you enter AK too. They did a magic shot with Stitch popping out of a gift. We also got the magic shots with Mickey, Minnie and Stitch on benches at DHS - they were doing them by the Animation Building and on Sunset Blvd. I almost always had to ask for the magic shots, so doing the research ahead of time paid off. I highly recommend Stitchkingdom.com for background on the photopass.
Characters - I consulted Steve Soares site before our trip and made notes on characters with regular appearances. We never waited more than 15 minutes to see any of the characters (Buzz in Tomorrowland, Woody and Jessie in Frontierland, Lilo and Stitch in Adventureland, Pluto & Goofy at by the hat at DHS). We saw Brer Bear at AK with no waiting and found Mulan standing alone in China at Epcot. The UP characters at DHS were particularly fun to see and have a great background for photos. I made autograph books with templates from the DISigners here on the boards and many of the characters fussed over them and were very excited to see their own personal pages, making my boys feel even more special. (And prompting many questions from the people around us in line)
My parents, husband and I have all been to WDW many times, but this was the first time with kids. We intentionally waited until our boys were older (7) for their first visit, and it was truly an amazing memory-filled trip. As always, Disney delivered great service, friendly CMs and first-class entertainment. We hardly heard a complaint from the kids all week about being tired, too much walking, etc. because they were simply enthralled with everything around them. The kids favorite attractions were Expedition Everest, Rock-N-Roller Coaster, Tower or Terror, Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.
Please let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to report on our experiences.
